If you’re using a regular Model B (not the plus version), we also have a Pi

Wedge for it.

This guide will show you how to assemble the Pi Wedge B+ and start using

it with your Raspberry Pi.

Required Materials

• The Pi Wedge B+ kit

• A Raspberry Pi B+ single board computer.

• A Solderless Breadboard

•An FTDI Basic

• Your favorite I2C, SPI or GPIO-based peripherals

• A soldering iron and leaded or lead-free solder

Suggested Reading

• How To Use a Breadboard

• Setting Up a Boot Card

• Serial Communication

• Serial Peripheral Interface

•I2C

Suggested Viewing

• Getting Started With The Raspberry Pi

◦ Part 1

◦ Part 2

◦ Part 3

Background

In the process of developing projects like the Twitter Monitor and Great

American Tweet Race around the Raspberry Pi, we found that we were

experiencing some growing pains when trying to expand the Pi into a

prototype that involved external hardware.

There’s a Pi somewhere in this ratsnest

The Raspberry Pi Model B+ has a 40-pin connector that provides access to

several communication interfaces, plus GPIO and power. But the connector

doesn’t have detailed labeling, and the native pin arrangement is somewhat

scattershot. Pins used for similar functions aren’t always grouped together,

and power and ground pins are interspersed with no obvious pattern.

The pins also don’t translate to a solderless breadboard very easily. Our

first projects used a bunch of F-M jumper wires that we just plugged into the

header. They involved a lot of “ratsnest jiggling” when things stopped

working.

Bootstrapping

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